Flushing mechanism for water-closet bowls.



1 B. BENSEN. FLUSHING MECHANISM FOR WATER CLOSET BOWLS.

APPLICATION FILED APB-.25, 1910.

1,004,349. Patented Sept. 26, 1911.

3 BHEETEr-SHEET 2.

69 58 .59 60 65 65 Q 5/ "5 o I v 6 64 1 L O V COLUMBIA MANOIIIAIII C0-- wunmmx, D. C.

B. BENSEN. PLUSHING MECHANISM FOR WATER CLOSET BOWLS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 25, 1910.

Patented Sept. 26, 1911.

3 BHEETE-SHEET 3.

fielrvzar y BERNARD BENSEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FLUSHING MECHANISM FOR WATER-CLOSET BOWLS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 26, 1911.

Application filed April 25, 1910. Serial No. 557,410.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERNARD BENSEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at- Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flushing Mechanism for WVater-Gloset Bowls, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mechanisms for flushing the bowls of water-closets.

The mechanism is adapted to act automatically when pressure on the seat has been released, it being intended that the mechanism shall thereupon allow a current of water to flush the bowl for a certain predetermined period of time.

Mechanisms adapted to perform similar functions are known and used but the mechanism of the present invention is intended to overcome difficulties of design, construction and operation, which have heretofore been experienced.

Improvements sought in the mechanism are greater smoothness of operation, greater accuracy of actlonln allowing the water to flush for a predetermined time, and freedom from vibration and consequent rattling and deterioration due to suddenly releasing the pressure on the seat. Also, to secure greater compactness and simplicity of construction, and to enable adjusting the parts of mechanism to different designs and constructions of seats.

Other objects and uses will appear from a detailed description of the invention which consists in the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings Figure 1 shows a crosssection taken through the central part of my improved flushing mechanism, some portions being shown in elevation, and it shows the parts in normal or disenga ed position such as they would occupy after the flushing operation had ceased; Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing my improved mechanism attached to a water-closet bowl of ordinary design, the parts being in normal or disengaged position; Fig. 3 shows a side elevation of the mechanism, the tripping finger being shown in raised position such as it would occupy when the seat was depressed, but previous to the release which occurs when the seat is allowed to rise; Fig. 4 is a detail elevation of the upper portion of my improved mechanism, the tripping finger having been drawn down by allowmg the seat to rise, almost enough to cause the tripping mechanism to release; Fig. 5 1s a sectional detail taken through the lower portion of my improved mechanism on the line 55 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 6 is a detail of the upper portion of the dash pot cylinder showing the manner in which the same will close in a thoroughly fluid tight manner by means of a gasket, preparatory to shipment; Fig. 7 1s a detail plan, looking down on my improved cap, showing the manner in which the same may be split at one side so as to be drawn tightly together for the purpose of clamping it to the upper portion of the caslng; and Fig. 8 is a detail elevation of a hood which may be applied to the mechanism for protecting the same from dust and other external influences.

My improved flushing mechanism comprises essentially a valve 6 for regulating admission of the water to the bowl of the water-closet, and proper mechanisms for controlling the action of this valve. The preferred form of construction is one in which water under pressure from a suitable source enters the mechanism at 7, thence passing into a chamber 8. The valve 6 provided with a water-tight contact surface 9 is adapted to seat against a ledge or valve seat 10. Upon lowering the valve 6, communication is established between a chamber 11 and the space 8 through an opening 12 and thereupon the water passes up into the chamber 11. The chamber 11 is partially inclosed by a wall 13 having therein a series of openings 14 which allow the water to pass from the chamber 11 into a chamber 15 within a casing 16. Thechamber 15 is in connection at one side with a passage 17 which terminates in a neck or nozzle 18 intended to be properly attached to the bowl of the water-closet. From the above it is seen that when the valve 6, carrying with it the contacting surface 9, lowers, water under pressure will pass up from the connection 7 through the chamber 8 port 12 and openings 14 into the space 15 and thence through the passageway 17 to the bowl of the water-closet. The mechanisms to which this invention is particularly directed relate to means for actuating the valve 6 in such a way as to properly control the flow of water to the Water-closet bowl.

The valve 6 is provided with an auxiliary valve opening 19 in the central portion and a stem 20 carries an auxiliary valve 21 on its lower end by means oflocknuts or bolts 22. These lock nuts 22 act in conjunction with a nut 23 to grip the valve 21 between them. The valve 6 may rest on thisvalve 21 and be carried by it as will presently appear. The auxiliary valve opening 19 is in communication with a passageway 24 which extends entirely up through a shell 25 and communicates with a space 26 above the upper-face of a piston 27, integral with or carried by the shell 25. This piston fits freely within the wall 13 so that it may move easily therein. A packing 28 prevents the escapement of water from the space 26. tothe space 29 above the wall 30.. Evidently, when the valves 6 and 21 are in upper position the water pressure in the chamber 8 will tend to hold, them firmly seated and considerable force would be necessary to lower the valve 6 away from the seat 10.. However, by connecting the auxiliaryvalve 21 to the stem 20 in the before described. and, illustrated manner, said auxiliary valve may be easily forced down against the water pressure because of its small area. forced down, thus opening the port 19, water will flow up through, the space 24 into the space 26 and press downwardly on the surface of the piston 27 By making this piston of proper area the upward pressure on the valve- 6 may be partially or fully overcome, or downward force may be created which will force the piston 27, shell 25, and valve 6 downward thereby opening the port 12 and allowing water to flow into the chamber 11..

The stem 20 is attached at 31 to the lower end of a dash-pot 32,,the piston head 33 and piston 34 of which are rigidly attached to the upper head 35 of the mechanism. The exact height of the piston 33 can be regu-- lated by adjusting the lock nuts 36 and 37 or by adjusting a supporting nut 38 which threads onto the upper portion of the piston rod.

A spring 39 which surrounds the piston rod 34, contacts, at its lower end the upper face of the nut 36 and at its upper end said spring abuts against the inner wall of the head 40 of the dash-pot 32. From the above description it is evident that when the dashpot 32 is depressed, such-depression will be resisted by the spring 39, but the valve 21 will be lowered by reason of its connection through the stem 20 with the dash-pot 32,.

and it is further evident that when the depressing force is removed, the spring 39 willraise the dash-pot and with it the valve 21 and the valve 6, thereby closing the latter against its valve seat, and cutting oflf the supply of water from the bowl.

The piston of the dash-pot is preferably in the form of a leather. washer 41 so carried WVhen it has been.

that the dash-pot may be lowered easily, oil or other liquid contained within it passing from one end of the cylinder to the other around the edge of the piston, but when the cylinder starts to rise, the oil or other liquid carried beneath the piston will be prevented from escaping up around theedge of the piston into the upper space of the cylinder. In order to enable the dash-pot to rise, the piston 34 is made in tubular form and the hole 42 in the piston is screw threaded toreceive a nut or screw 43 which can be raised or lowered in the hole 42 by threading it one way or the other. A small hole 44 in one side of the tubular piston gives access from the hole 42 to the upper portion of the, dashpot cylinder so that when said hole is open,

oil may flow up from the lower portion of the cylinder through, the holes 42 and 44 thereby slowly filling the space in the upper portion. of the cylinder. ,The rapidity with which the oil may thus escape upwardly may be regulated by properly adjusting the screw 43 by means of a screw driver inserted at 45; V

The upper head of the dash pot 32 carries a threaded lug 46, to which may be screw threaded a tripping head 47. This tripping head 47 carries a pin 48 on which is pivoted a tripping finger 49 which forms one arm of a bell crank, the other arm of the bell crank terminating in a contactor 50.

The lower, casing 16 is suitably attachedv as by means of a tubular casing 51 to the head 35. The preferred form of construction is one in which this head 35 carries a lug 52 and screw 53, theexact elevation of which may be regulated as desired, and the further movements of which. may be prevented asby means of a lock nut 54. The uses of the bell crank lever 4950, and screw 53 will appear more in, detail later on in this specification.

Referring to Fig. 2, my improved mechanism is seen as it would appearin conjunct1on with the bowl; of a water-closet, and

the manner in which the seat is adapted to actuate my mechanism is disclosed. The nozzle 18 is suitably attached as by a connection 55 to the bowl 56 of the watercloset at 57,. The water-closet is provided in the usual manner with a hinge 58 whereby the seat 59 may be raised and lowered at pleasure. A link 60 may be suitably hinged or pivoted to any stationary portion of the water-closet. This link is provided on its lower portion with a boss 61. A second link 62 provided with a contact end 63. for con: tacting the seat 59 and with a contact point 64 for cont-acting the boss 61 may. also be pivoted to a stationary point of the watercloset. In the preferred form of construction, the links 60 and 62 are pivoted onto the same pin 63 which, carries the hinge 58.

Referring again to Fig. 1, the end of the link 60 is shown more in detail in conjunction with previously described parts. The end portion of this link 60 is adapted to contact a roller 65 carried on a pin 66 in a frame 67. This frame 67 is attached at one end as by means of a pin 68 to a tripping finger 69 and it is attached at its lower end, as-by means of a pin 70' to a head 71. The cylinder of a dash pot 72 is adapted to be threaded into a stationary portion of the casing as at 7 3. The head 71 is attached to the piston rod 74 of the dash-pot so that as the end of the link 60 is raised and lowered, the piston 75 will also be raised and lowered with respect to the cylinder 72. A spring 76 in the upper portion of the cylinder 72 contacts, on its lower end the upper face of the piston 75, and on its upper end it contacts the head 77 of the dash-pot. The piston 75 is provided with a lug 78 screw threaded for receiving the lower end of the piston rod 74. The upper end of the piston rod 74 may be screw threaded onto the head 71 and looked as by means of a set screw 79.- Evidently by screwing the rod 74 a greater or less distance into the hi 78, the tension on the spring 76 can be ad usted to suit any requirements. That is to say, the downward force which. will be exerted on the piston 75, and therefore on the head 71 can be adjusted to suit requirements.

The piston 75 is provided with a hole 80 so that when said piston is suddenly raised,

oil or other fluid contained within the casing 72 may pass rapidly from the upper to the lower space within the casing. A valve 81 is provided on the piston so that when the latter starts to descend, this valve will close the hole 80, due to the rushing of the oil or other fluid through said hole. A small opening 82 in the valve 81 will then allow the oil to slowly pass from one side of the piston 75 to the other, thereby allowing the piston 75 to descend slowly.

The tripping finger 69 is adapted to be carried within a hole in a lug 83 attached to one side of the head 35. The arm 49 carries a tripping finger 84, preferably beveled on its lower face, and the finger 69 carries a catch 85 adapted to engage the finger 84.

The normal operation of my improved mechanism is as follows: When the pressure is applied to the seat 59 the latter will engage the contact 63 thereby rotating the link 62 and raising the link 60 by reason of the contact between the point 64 and the boss 61. When the link 60 is thus raised, it will carry with it the roller 65, pin 66 and frame 67. This will raise the piston rod 74 and piston head 75 against the force of the spring 76, the oil or other fluid at the same time passing into the lower portion of the cylinder 72. The raising of the frame 67 will also carry upward the tripping pin 69 until the finger 85 engages with the finger 84. The adjustment of the screw 64 shown in Fig. 2 should be such that as long as the seat 59 is held depressed the finger 85 will be held slightly above the finger 84 and ready to engage the same the instant pressure is relieved from the seat. As soon as the pressure is relieved from the seat 59, the spring 76 will cause the piston rod 74, head 71, frame 67, tripping finger 69 and arm 49 to be drawn downwardly and these parts will continue to descend until the surface 50 has come into contact with the screw head 53. Thercupon the bell crank will be rotated as the tripping finger 69 continues its descent, until finally the finger 84 will disengage from the finger 85 and the bell crank arm will be released. The manner in which this bell crank mechanism operates is best illustrated in Fig. 4. It is seen that the instant pressure is relieved from the seat the valve 21 will be opened, because the descent of the bell crank arm 49 will cause the lug 46 to be carried down, thereby carrying also the dashpot 32, rod 20, and valve 21. WVhen the valve 21 has opened, the valve 6 will also open, as hereinbefore described. lVhen the valve has been opened in the above manner, and the fingers S4 and 85 have been disengaged, the spring 39 will immediately start to raise the cylinder 32 but the speed of such ascent will be determined by the time necesary for the spring 39 to close the valve 6. However, the time necessary to close said valve, and the amount of its initial opening, may further be determined by properly setting the screw 53. Evidently this screw may be set so that the fingers 84 and 85 will not disengage until the tripping finger 69 has been almost entirely retracted or the screw may be set so that the fingers will be disengaged early in their descent. In the former case the valve 6 will be widely opened so that the flow of water into the bowl will berapid, and so that the period of time during which the flow will continue will be large, whereas in the latter case the valve 6 will be only partially opened, thereby allowing the water to flow for a shorter space of time. Of course the interval during which the water will flow may also be regulated by adjusting the screw 43 so as to uncover the hole 44 to a greater or less extent.

In my improved construction I prefer to place the daslrpot cylinder 72 in the position shown. In this construction the passageway 17 is branched out into two branches, 86 and 87, thereby providing an opening 88 within which the cylinder 72 may be placed. The upper head 77 of the cylinder may then be threaded into the inner wall 89 of the passageways, as shown more in detail in Fig. l. Placing the cylinder 72 in the manner shown provides an extremely compact and solid construction,

one in which the cylinder 72 is out of the way and one in which a straight line or an almost straight line connection may be made between the tripping finger 69 and the piston rod 74. Furthermore, the connection 18 is almost invariably on the water-closet side of the mechanism, and this is also the side from which the lever 60 projects. Therefore, the arrangement of parts is such that the lever connection 60 may be directly made and at the same time the various working parts connected together in as di 7 rect and compact a manner as possible.

In my improved construction I prefer to form the cylinder head 77 as shown more in detail in Fig. 6. In this case the head 77 is provided with a recess 90, the bottom of said recess being provided with a boss 91. The head 71 is of a size such as may be set down within the recess 90 when said head is disconnected from the frame 67 A washer of leather or other suitable material 92 will then be compressed between the head 71 and the boss 91 thus providing an oil-tight joint which will effectually prevent the leakage of oil during shipment. This is an eX- tremely valuable feature for the reason that it is desirable to ship these clash-posts in assembled form with the oil in the cylinders. This does away with the necessity of subsequent adjustments by mechanics not thoroughly familiar with the details of the mechanism. By providing the recess 90 in the head 77 I provide means for catching any drops of oil which might be drawn out from the cylinder on the surface of the piston rod 74:. Any such oil will be caught within the recess 90 and may then leak back along the piston rod into the cylinder.

The preferred form of construction for the head 10 of the dash-pot 32 is shown more in detail in Fig. 1. In this construction I provide a recess 93 in the lower face of said head and a recess 9 in its .upper face. Packing 95 is held within the upper portion of the recess 93 by means of a packing ring 96 against which the upper end of the spring 39 compresses. This insures that there will always be a compressing force on the packing 95 and assurance is thus given that leakage at this point will be reduced to a minimum. Any small amount of oil which may leak past the piston will be caught within the recess 94: and will eventually leak back into the cylinder. The cap 35 is preferably of the form shown in Fig. 7. It is screw threaded on its interior so that it may be screwed onto the casing 51. It may be split on one side as shown at 97 to form lugs 98 and 99 and which may be drawn to gether as by a screw 100; in this manner it may be securely and immovably attached to the casing 51. The tripping head 47 may be provided on each side with a rib 101 as shown in Fig. 3 and these ribs acting in conjunction with slots 102, Fig. 7, will effectually prevent the tripping head from rotating in service. The cap 35 may be provided with bosses 103 to which may be attached a hood 104, Fig. 8; this hood is of a size and shape to set down over and completely inclose the movable parts of the mechanism, lugs 105 registering with the bosses 103 and lugs 106 registering with bosses 107 on the passageways 86 and 87.

The hood may be held securely in position,

by means of studs or bolts passed through the lugs and threaded into the bosses. The tripping arm 50 is preferably of such shape as to provide a hole 108 through which a screwdriver may be inserted for easily adjusting the screw 15.

The stop 109 determines the lowest position to which the arm 50 may drop so that the arm 49 will always be in working position.

It is seen that my improved mechanism is extremely compact, that the working parts are so arranged with respect to each other as to provide direct and simple connections between them, and that in general the parts are arranged and assembled in such manner as to insure the least possible amount of disarrangement in service.

The arrangement of links 60 and 62 is such that the proper amount of throw will be given to the finger 69 no matter what may be the length of the link 60 for the screw 64- may be adjusted so that the seat 59 will not strike the contact 63 until said seat is within a greater or less distance of the bowl 56 depending upon the amount of movement of the contact 63 desired. That is to say, if the arm 60 is long a small movement of the contact 63 will suflice to throw the tripping finger 69 entirely up, whereas if said lever 60 is short the larger amount of movement of the contact 63 will be necessary.

It-will be seen that the exact construction of my mechanism does not have to be that shown, and that certain modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. In a flushing mechanism the combination of a stationary frame-work, a movable dashpot within the same, a watervalve attached to the lower portion of the dashpot, a tripping head attached to the upper portion of the dashpot, a bellcrank tripping lever pivoted to the tripping head and provided on one arm with a finger and on the other arm with a contact member, and an adjustable tripping lug for engaging the contact member to rotate thebellcrank, and means for engaging the finger to lower the tripping head and to bring the contact member into engagement with. the tripping lug, substantially as described.

2. In combination with the movable valve member of a flushing mechanism, a tripping head thereon, a bellcrank on the tripping head, and provided on one of its arms with a finger and provided on its other arm with a contact member, a stationary adjustable lug in position to engage the contact member when the bellcrank is lowered, and means for engaging the finger to lower the bellcrank and valve mechanism, substantially as described.

3. In a flushing mechanism the combination of a movable valve member, a tripping head on the same, a bellcrank on the tripping head, and provided on one arm with a finger and provided on its other arm with a contact member, an adjustable stationary lug in position to engage the contact member when the bellcrank and movable valve member are lowered to open the valve, actuating means for engaging the finger of the bellcrank to lower the same to open the valve, and a stop on the tripping head in position to engage the bellcrank to normally hold the same in position to present the finger in position to engage the actuating means, substantially as described.

4. In a flushing mechanism the combination of a stationary frame-work, a movable clashpot within the same, a valve member on the dashpot, a removable tripping head on the dashpot, a bellcrank on the tripping head, and provided on one arm with an actuating finger and on the other arm with a contact member, a stationary adjustable lug on the frame-work in position to engage the contact member, and means for engaging the finger to lower the bellcrank for purposes of opening the valve, substantially as described.

BERNARD BENSEN. WVitnesses:

THOMAS Q. BANNING, J12, MARY R. Fnos'r.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

